Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions for the Operation of Customer Bank Accounts, Bank Deposits, Electronic Banking and Other Banking Services

General Provisions

1. The General Terms and Conditions for the Operation of Customer Bank Accounts, Bank Deposits, Electronic Banking and Other Banking services (General Terms and Conditions) set forth herein, govern banking transactions between HSBC Bank Armenia cjsc (the Bank, including its successors and assigns) and the legal entity (the Customer, "You", "Your" pronouns refer to the Customer) signing the bank account opening form and such other sample document as may be designed by the Bank for a specific type of service rendered by the Bank.
2. Signature of the Customer under the bank account opening form or other sample document designed by the Bank for specific services shall constitute an acceptance of these General Terms and Conditions herein and other rules and conditions set by the Bank for services, as may be amended from time to time by the Bank by notifying the Customer in accordance with the Law or in the manner agreed between the Bank and the Customer and/or through placing a notification on the Bank's web-site or at the premises of the Bank.
3. The sample bank account opening form, transaction forms and other similar sample documents may be amended by the Bank from time to time. These General Terms and Conditions are deemed to be primary and all the sample forms, documents for dealings on the bank accounts, services, and other mandatory procedures and conditions approved (to be approved) by the Bank shall be applicable as far as they do not contradict these General Terms and Conditions unless such forms, documents, mandatory procedures and conditions provide otherwise.
4. The Bank is entitled to refuse acceptance of documents presented by the Customer for conducting any transaction if the form of such documents (and also the content) differs from the one approved by the Bank.
5. Commission fee will be charged by the Bank for the services rendered to the Customer in accordance with the Bank's Tariff of Charges. The Tariff of Charges is available for the Customers at the Bank's premises and the Bank's web-site (www.hsbc.am). The Tariff of Charges may be amended unilaterally by the Bank by notifying the Customers thereon on the Bank's web-site or at the premises of the Bank. All the charges defined under the Tariff of Charges will be levied in Armenian Drams (AMD).The fees defined under the Tariff of Charges are normally charged from the bank account of the respective transaction, and in case of foreign currency bank account the Bank shall be entitled to convert the respective amount of the foreign currency into AMD at the average rate published by the Central Bank for that currency or the Bank's respective exchange rate and apply the respective charge.
6. The Bank reserves the right to charge from the Customer the expenses of deliveries related to the services.
7. The Bank shall implement duly filed authentic instructions for implementation of transactions and operations presented by or on behalf of the Customer. The Customer shall be liable for any risk, possible losses and expenses resulting from implementation of instructions, and such loss and expenses shall not be subject to compensation by the Bank, nor any of its employees or agents.
8. All bank account balances and expected funds, deposits, accrued and future interest, banknotes denominated in any currency, securities, bills, gold and other valuables of the Customer held with the Bank shall be deemed to be a security against the liability of the Customer to the Bank which arose with respect to bank account maintenance by the Bank or for any other reason whatsoever (including with respect to interest, commission fees and other charges) and the Bank shall have the right of pledge with respect to the latter. The Bank shall be entitled to make a set off against liabilities which arose for any of the reasons described above without any acceptance by the Customer and without compiling any additional document.
9. The Customer shall not be entitled without the prior written approval of the Bank to assign to other persons any present or future right towards the Bank with respect to any services rendered by the Bank.
10. The Customer shall not be entitled without the prior written approval of the Bank to assign to other persons any present or future right towards the Bank with respect to any services rendered by the Bank.
11. The Bank shall not be held liable for any loss, damage or delay resulting from any actions by state bodies or from force majeure circumstances, including equipment default or any interruption of electricity supply.
12. Any failure or delay by the bank in exercising protection of its interests in its relations with the Customers may not be viewed as a waiver thereof. The rights stipulated hereunder are cumulative and not exclusive of any other rights provided by the law.
13. These General Terms and Conditions are made and construed in accordance with the legislation of RoA. Any relations with respect to the services stipulated herein and not regulated under these General Terms and Conditions will be subject to the legislation of RoA and where no respective provisions are stipulated under the legislation – to the business practice. Any disputes arising between the Bank and the Customer are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of RoA. The Armenian version of the General Terms and Conditions prevails over the English version.
14. The Bank in accordance with the legislation of RoA shall be entitled to provide without prior notice to the Customer information about the Customer to other banks, credit organizations and credit bureaus at the latters demand or at its own initiative.
15. The Customer authorizes the Bank to use and process the data of the Customer for the purpose of rendering services. The Bank shall be entitled to use the Customer's electronic mail address, mobile phone number and other communication details for the purpose of sending to the Customer informative and advertising materials related to the services rendered by the Bank. The Customer hereby agrees, that for the purpose of processing the Customer's data the Bank may use the services of HSBC Group member or other companies and shall be entitled to transfer to the latters such data. The Customer's data shall be protected in accordance with privacy and security procedures of HSBC Group irrespective of whether such data is processed in or outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia and may be used only according to the instructions of the Bank. The Bank shall be liable for any losses incurred by the Customer if such losses result from negligence/breach of data protection privacy and security standards by these companies.
16. The Customer authorizes the Bank without prior notice to the Customer and at its sole discretion to provide its data to the companies cooperating with the Bank as well as organizations within HSBC Group for offering services to the Customers, improving the services provided to the Customers or other purposes.
17. According to Bank's principles, internal regulations and Law of RoA "Combating money laundering and terrorism financing" the circulation of proceeds of criminal activity through banks is forbidden. In view of the above provisions of the Law and pursuant to requirements of money laundering legislation/regulations and internationally accepted practice, where any suspicions arise the Bank reserves the right to make any inquiry at its sole discretion on the source of any funds credited to, being credited by/in the name of the Customer. Respectively, the Bank may request to submit sufficient evidences of the lawful origin of funds. The Bank shall be entitled to block the questioned funds and/or suspend the use and/or disposal and/or possession of funds during such time until presentation of sufficient evidence. The Customer agrees to indemnify the Bank against any losses and claims in connection with the above. The Customer acknowledges and agrees that the Bank is obliged to comply with the requirements of the laws and other legal acts, as well as those of law-enforcement bodies which refer to the prevention of terrorism financing. Neither the Bank, nor any other company acting as a partner of the Bank, is liable for any direct or indirect loss incurred by any person (including the loss of anticipated income or interest payment) if such loss resulted fully or partially from fulfilment by the Bank of the requirements related to combating money laundering and terrorism financing.
18. Where any suspicions arise as to the authenticity of any documents, as well as Powers of Attorney (including certified by Notary Public) issued by the Customers in favour of third parties presented to the Bank for transacting with the Bank and/or receiving other services rendered by the Bank, the Bank shall be entitled to send such documents/Powers of Attorney to the respective authorized body for expertise to prove their authenticity and the Bank shall bear no liability for any loss incurred by the Customer due to the delay caused by such actions.
19. The procedure of communication and implementation of transactions through Internet, telephone/facsimile is stipulated in separate documents/procedures agreed between the Bank and the Customer, which shall be applied in addition to these General Terms and Conditions.

Bank Account

1. These conditions apply to all bank accounts of the Customer with the Bank irrespective of the currency and type of the bank account. The list of documents required for opening a bank account by the Customer is defined by the Bank and may be amended from time to time. Time periods for implementation of transactions are defined by the Bank unless otherwise provided under these General Terms and Conditions, other documents approved by the Bank or legal acts.
2. If sufficient funds are not available on the bank account of the Customer for implementing the instructions of the latter, the Bank shall have the right to make payment from the Customer bank account at its discretion. The paid amounts shall be considered as loan provided to the Customer with respective amount from the day of making such payment on terms agreed between the Bank and the Customer: such loan is subject to immediate repayment by the Customer if the Bank and the Customer do not agree otherwise, and interest may be accrued and/or service charges may be applied on such loan. Interest shall accrue on daily basis on the debit balance of the bank account. Irrespective of the currency of the bank account the interest shall be paid in AMD. Where the respective interest amount is debited from foreign currency bank accounts of the Customer, the Bank shall be entitled to convert the respective amount into AMD at the respective exchange rate of the Bank as of the debiting date and charge the respective amount.
3. For specific types of bank accounts, the Bank may at its discretion provide the Customer a cheque book. The Customer shall exercise due care when drawing any cheque and shall be bound by the conditions as may be amended by the Bank from time to time.
4. The Bank will provide to the Customer statement for bank accounts in the manner and frequency agreed with the Customer. Information reflected in the statement shall be deemed to be a valid notice of transactions conducted on the bank account. It is the responsibility of the Customer to check the accuracy of the statement and notify the Bank of any errors therein within 30 days of the date of such statement. The Bank shall not be held liable for any losses incurred by the Customer due to errors, theft, loss or for disclosure of information which may arise in connection with the postal delivery of the statements.
5. The Bank shall be entitled without further authorization of the Customer or prior notification to the Customer to debit from the bank account all taxes subject to levy by the Bank in accordance with the legislation of RoA.
6. Legal entity account(s) with the Bank which are held with zero balance at any given time within 3 uninterrupted months may be closed at unilateral decision of the Bank. Regardless the above mentioned condition the given legal entity zero balance account(s) will not be subject to closure if at least one of its account(s) has positive balance.
7. Deposits and withdrawals may be made at any branch of the Bank in the Republic of Armenia subject to availability of satisfactory evidence of identity and authorities of the Customer's representative.
8. Conversion from one currency to another shall be made at the Bank's respective exchange rate as regularly defined by the Bank. By giving a respective instruction to the Bank for effecting a transfer from a bank account in one currency to a bank account in another currency, the Customer undertakes and confirms that he/she agrees to the conversion of currency at the exchange rate defined by the Bank.
9. The Customer agrees that the Bank is entitled to make a currency conversion transaction at the exchange rate defined by itself in order to credit the Customer's respective bank account with amounts transferred/paid in favour of the Customer in other currency.
10. The Bank is authorized to debit the bank account of the Customer for all cheques, payment instructions duly signed in accordance with the current signing authority provided to the Bank on signature card or other forms accepted by Bank.
11. The Customer agrees to indemnify the Bank against any expenses and losses incurred by the Bank with respect to implementation of Customer's instructions and the Bank shall be entitled to debit the Customer's bank accounts with any such amounts.
12. The Bank shall accept the payment instructions on the days and at the time defined by itself. The payment instructions received on any other day and at other time during the day shall be deemed to be received on the next working day following the day of receipt. For processing the payment instructions, the Bank shall be entitled to request from the Customer additional information/approval related to the instruction and shall process the Customer instruction only upon receipt of such information/approval. If it is not possible to receive the additional information/approval from the Customer the Bank reserves the right to decline to process the Customer instruction. The Customer shall be advised on nonacceptance of the payment instruction verbally and/or in writing. The bank is not obliged to notify the Customer on receipt of payment instruction on payment of funds to the Customer.
13. Acting only as the Customer's collection agent, the Bank may agree to accept, but without assuming any responsibility for their payment, cheques, bank drafts, and similar payment instruments drawn or endorsed in favour of the Customer for deposit to bank account provided they are made out in favour of the Customer or endorsed to their order. For this purpose, the Bank's offices, correspondents or other agents appointed by the Bank shall be deemed to be the Customer's agents.
14. The Bank or its agents shall not be held liable for the loss, damage or dishonour of a cheque or other instrument or for the failure to credit, late payment or presentation, validity, any delay in crediting the bank account or non payment and return of cheques, payment instructions, bank drafts or other instruments through the fault of the Customer. The Bank or its agents shall not be held liable for any loss of the Customer due to suspending the transfer of funds or freezing the funds transferred based on the Customer's payment instructions in accordance with the legislation of foreign states. The Bank or its agents shall process all transactions on best effort basis in compliance with local regulations.
15. Proceeds of cheques or other instruments shall be available for withdrawal by the Customer within one month after collection of the amounts of cheques or other instruments by the Bank.
16. The rate of interest payable on respective bank account shall be displayed at the Bank's branches, the Bank's web-site and/or publicized in any other way and may equal 0% or any other percentage. Interest accrued on any bank account are paid in Armenian Drams irrespective of the currency of bank account.
17. The Bank shall have the right at any time to use the funds available on the bank accounts of the Customer with the Bank (irrespective of the currency) for the satisfaction of any indebtedness of the Customer to the Bank irrespective of currency and its legal ground, as well as charge/record the amount of Customer's indebtedness from/on respective bank account of the Customer. For the purposes of such set-off, the Bank is authorized, if necessary, to exchange various currencies available on different bank accounts of the Customer at the exchange rate defined by the Bank for the respective currency and charge the respective amount. The Customer hereby agrees, that for the purpose of satisfaction of any indebtedness of the Customer to the Bank (irrespective of the currency and its legal ground) the Bank may request other banks operating in territory of the Republic of Armenia to debit the amounts of Customer indebtedness from the Customer bank accounts with those banks and transfer these amounts to the Bank.
18. In the event of dissolution, insolvency or bankruptcy (or other analogous, event or proceedings) of the Customer the Bank shall not be liable for any dealings on the bank account unless and until the Bank has received written notice of the same together with other satisfactory documentary evidence as determined by the Bank. In case of receiving a valid notice, the Bank shall suspend all dealings on the bank account until a duly authorized representative has been suitably empowered to deal with the bank account.
19. The Customer may close the bank account by giving prior written notice at any time to the Bank after payment of all moneys due to the Bank at the time of such closing of the bank account. The Bank may on the bases of court orders or resolutions of the Central Bank terminate or suspend dealings on the bank account in the manner stipulated in the RoA legislation without filing a prior notice to the Customer or presenting a justification. The Bank shall have the right to close the bank account of the Customer at its discretion, if the legal acts or conditions set forth herein have been breached by the latter.
20. Any written demand or communication of the Bank shall be made in the manner and based on contact details agreed with the Customer. In case of sending notifications via post or document delivery service the Customer will be deemed to be duly advised on the date of providing the respective communication or other similar document by the Bank to the postal service or the company carrying out document delivery. The Customer shall advise the Bank without delay of any change in address, residency status, and/or in the information and documents submitted to the Bank. If the Customer fails to advise the Bank on any such change the Bank shall not be liable for any loss incurred by the Customer as a result of making transactions with bank account based on the documents/information available at the Bank.

Bank Deposit

1. The conditions set forth herein govern the relations between the Bank and the Customer signing any sample bank deposit opening form approved by the Bank in addition to the provisions related to bank accounts.
2. The rate of interest payable on bank deposit shall be displayed at the Bank's branches, at the Bank's web-site and/or in any other way. The interest rate defined by the Bank at the moment of opening of a term deposit shall remain unchanged during the entire period of the deposit agreement unless provided otherwise for particular types of deposits. The interest on each deposit is payable upon maturity of the deposit or as otherwise agreed. Any interest payable on the deposit, irrespective of its currency, shall be paid in Armenian Drams.
3. The term deposits placed by the Customer are subject to early repayment only at the consent of the Bank.
4. In case of early termination of the term deposit agreement at the request of the Customer or due to other reason beyond the control of the Bank the payable interest shall be calculated at the rate agreed between the Bank and the Customer.

Electronic Banking Services

1. The conditions set forth herein govern all transactions effected by the ATM Card (the Card) issued by the Bank to the Customer.
2. The Card shall remain the property of the Bank, and the Customer shall surrender the Card to the Bank immediately upon request. The Bank may withdraw at any time all rights and privileges of the Customer pertaining to the Card.
3. The Card and Personal Identity Number (PIN) are issued to the Customer entirely at the Customer's risk, and the Bank shall bear no liability whatsoever for any loss/damage arising from the use of the Card and PIN however caused unless the cause is the result of an act or error of the Bank.
4. Person/s specified in the application provided by the Customer to the Bank for the purpose of providing corporate ATM cards (Authorised Cardholder/Cardholders) is/are authorized to receive ATM cards on behalf of the Customer, which enables Authorised Cardholder/Cardholders to do encashment transactions from the Customer's bank accounts via ATM card and conduct other transactions available through ATM cards. Each Authorised Cardholder also has a right to apply to the Bank for the purpose of cancellation of the ATM card issued in his/her name in accordance with the terms specified by ATM card application provided by the Customer to the Bank.
5. The Customer shall at all times remain liable for any transactions made by use of the Card and shall indemnify the Bank for all loss/damage however caused by unauthorized use of the Card or PIN. The Customer shall promptly advise the Bank on termination of employment relationship/agreement with the Authorised Cardholder (Cardholders), as well as on any other circumstance which may restrict the implementation of transactions through the Card by the Authorised Cardholder/Cardholders. The Bank shall bear no liability whatsoever for any loss/damage arising from the use of the Card in cases when the Customer fails to provide the above-mentioned information to the Bank.
6. The Customer shall exercise due care to prevent the Card and details of the PIN being lost or stolen and shall notify the Bank immediately and confirm in writing any loss or theft. The Bank cannot be held responsible in case of a lost or stolen card/PIN is used prior to receipt of written notice of loss.
7. The Bank's record of transactions processed by the use of the Card shall be deemed to be a documentary evidence of the transactions.
8. The Bank shall debit the Customer's bank account with the amount of any withdrawal/transfer effected by use of the Card. Transactions effected in foreign currencies shall be effected at the exchange rate as determined by the Bank on the day of such transaction.
9. The Bank shall debit the Customer's bank account with all expenses related to the issuing, maintenance of the Card and, if necessary, any replacement thereof.
10. Cash withdrawals from other Bank's ATMs may be subject to a cash withdrawal fee fixed by the Bank.
11. The Customer shall not disclose the PIN to any other persons without the prior written consent of the Bank.
12. The Bank shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from any malfunction/failure of the Card or ATM, temporary insufficiency of funds in such machines or other similar reason (irrespective of the fact which bank appears to be the owner or lessee of the subject ATM).
13. Any cash or cheque deposited by use of the Card shall only be credited to the Customer's bank account after verification by the Bank, after which such deposits shall be regarded as having been received by the Bank and credited to the Customer's bank account.
14. The Card shall be immediately returned to the Bank in the event of the dissolution, insolvency or bankruptcy (or other analogous event or proceedings) of the Customer, closure of the bank account, as well as in the event of authorised Cardholder(s)' death.
15. Use of the Card in cases of making any change to these General Terms and Conditions will constitute acceptance without reservation by the Customer of such change.

Note: In case of discrepancies between the Armenian and English versions of this page, the Armenian version shall prevail.

Last updated on: 01/04/2012 14:00